Mix in a barn or shed, where material will not freeze during 

 the manipulation, 6 bushels fresh horse manure, free from long 

 straws, with two bushels of good garden loam. Manure should 

 be fresh, not dried, and loam should be moist. If material is fresh 

 no addition of water is necessary. Leave a few days, provided 

 there is no danger of hard frost,' which would freeze the material 

 into cakes. 



Build a small box or partition in your cellar 1 yard square, 12 

 inches high. Bring in the material and spread one bushel at a 

 time evenly in the box; tamp it firmly with a brick. Then bring 

 in the next bushel, and so on. 



Ascertain the temperature of the bed at frequent intervals, us- 

 ing a dairy thermometer or special mushroom thermometer. When 

 temperature of the bed has fallen to 75 degrees F., plant the spawn, 

 breaking the brick into 8 or 10 pieces, inserting a piece in the center 

 of each square foot of bed, 2 inches below the surface. Cover 

 and tamp the holes. Then cover the bed with about 4 inches of 

 clean straw, and if convenient, with an old piece of carpet. 



After 10 or 12 days remove the straw and spread 1 to IJ^ inches of 

 fresh loam over the bed, tamp gently and replace the straw and 

 carpet. After about 40 days mushrooms will commence to ap- 

 pear. The temperature of the cellar should nor rise above 60 de- 

 grees nor fall below 50 degrees F. 



The quantities above mentioned are based upon one square yard 

 of bed for which one brick of "Lambert's Pure Culture Spawn" 

 is required. For larger beds increase the quantities proportionately. 



24. How to Cook Mushrooms 



♦ 



To the true epicure there are but four ways of cooking mush- 

 rooms — broiling, roasting, frying them in sweet butter, and stew- 

 ing them in cream. 



In preparing fresh mushrooms for cooking, wash them as little 

 as possible, as washing robs them of their delicate flavor. Always • 

 bear in mind that the more simply mushrooms are cooked the bet- 

 ter they are. Like all delicate flavored foods, they are spoiled by 

 the addition of strongly flavored condiments. 



BROILED MUSHROOMS.— Select fine, large, flkt mushrooms, 

 and be sure that they are fresh. If they are dusty, just dip them in 

 cold salt water. Then lay them on cheese cloth and let them -drain 

 thoroughly. When they are dry, cut off the stem quite close to the 

 comb. Or, what is better, carefully break off the stem. Do not 

 throw away the stems. Save them for stewing for soup or for 

 inushroom sauce. Having cut or broken off the stems, take a sharp 

 silver knife and skin the mushrooms, commencing at the edge and 

 finishing at the top. Put them on a gridiron that has been well 



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